Millions of trailers and containers are shipped by rail in the United States every year on flat cars which are built for the purpose. When freight trains arrive at an intermediate destination, often, the various containers and trailers must be taken off the flat cars and trucked to another terminal to be loaded on another freight train that is going to the next destination. Thus, a trailer or container load of goods may be loaded on to two or more freight trains and several different trucks as it passes from the shipper toward its ultimate destination.
Specifically, on a conventional highway interchange for railroad loads, a container arrives at a railroad terminal and is lifted off the train, spotted, and stored. A drayage firm picks up the container, goes through a check gate, and then drays the container across town. The container then is inspected upon arrival at the next railroad terminal, and is spotted for loading. Then, a second crane is used to load the container on to its connecting train.
Currently, the cost of unloading a container plus costs of inspection, paper work, insurance and theft is on the order of $52.00 per container. Additionally the drayage cost for moving a container from one railroad terminal to another in a large city may be $50.00 per container.
By this invention, a throughport interchange terminal is proposed which would be used by several railroad lines, rather along the line of an air terminal hub concept as is used by the major airlines of the United States. The throughport interchange terminal could be serviced by many railroad carriers to provide access to all major corridors of traffic in one convenient location. A shipper's container would arrive at the terminal in time to meet its connecting train and be transferred quickly and efficiently without costly cross town delays. By this invention, improvements are provided that particularly facilitate this concept.
Specifically, at a throughport terminal interchange of the type of this invention there may be only one handling charge per container, which at current rates can also avoid drayage costs and save about $50.00 per container. Also, in a conventional terminal flat cars can be held from 12 to 24 hours before being released with their load to earn revenue. In a throughport terminal interchange of this invention, for example an interchange capable of handling 490 containers at a time, there can be a very substantial reduction in idle time because of the efficient characteristics of the system. Also, the terminal of this invention can eliminate hostlers and chassis. Theft and damage due to handling can be reduced, and better tracking of in-shipment containers can be supplied along with a reduction of operating personnel.
The throughport terminal interchange of this invention can be placed on a relatively small area of land, for example 47 acres for a terminal having a holding capacity of 490 containers and trailers. Little dedicated container storage area is necessary, along with great reductions in parking requirements for the chassis or hostlers, which are typically not needed.
Furthermore, the operation of the throughport interchange terminal of this invention can be substantially automated for great savings of time and expense.